Mavro - or, Black
by Raggazzed12
Summary: A collection of one-shot stories, all for the fifth season of the Pro-bender Circuit.
1. Comaraderie

**A/N: I haven't written Avatar in such a long time that it should be warned that I don't know how in-character these guys will be. Did my best, will probably get better as this competition goes on and I remember how I write the whole herd of 'em. In the meantime, enjoy a slightly AU, post-canon, probably doesn't have much of a plotline, story! Written for Round 1 of the Pro-Bender Circuit, Season 5.**

 **Task: Write about the persons being reunited, or alternatively, regretting not being reunited (eg. someone passed away, someone's married now, etc). They can be happy, sad, hopeful, anything!**

 **Prompt: AU: Everyone's an animal**

 **Word Count: 1,470**

 **Animals Everyone Is (with brief descriptions - I tried to pick them best for each character's personality):**

 **Zuko: Cat Owl - head of a cat, wings and tail of an owl. Body of a cat, covered in fur.**

 **Aang: Penguin - four flippered friend, very tall.**

 **Sokka: Buffalo Deer - reindeer like creature, very tall, pure white color coat, grooved horns that go backwards along the head, shaggy hair.**

 **Brief Summary: The boys (™ ?) get back together after a long separation for the ATLA world's version of a bachelor party for Aang.**

With a loud sigh, Zuko flew to the dusty rafters of the large building as he waited for the others to arrive. It was only to be figured that they would be late. Leave it to Aang to decide last minute that he wanted to explore another market for food. Or maybe it was Sokka's fault: Zuko enjoyed blaming it on the biggest one of them all for being slightly slower than the rest.

He wasn't the one who was supposed to be anxious, so the time shouldn't matter to him anyways, right? This was just your ordinary, old, get-together. Only, it wasn't. It was a celebration for Aang - although there were only three of them coming which gave it a greater sense of camaraderie.

Right as Zuko started wondering what sort of things one did to celebrate another's day of happiness, a certain person waddled into the room, followed by the sounds of hooves and a large white head thrusting through the doorway. Zuko didn't miss a beat in flying down to greet them.

"Zuko!" Aang let out a happy call, and started approaching the other before he backed off, remembering the no-touching rule they'd had in place for a while. It wasn't going to be changed right yet.

"Hey there, Zuko." Sokka said, moving into the building with careful footing.

The Firelord hadn't seen the two of them since two winters ago, but nothing appeared to have changed about either's appearance. Sokka seemed a little shaggier as if he were working off his winter coat on a daily basis - which was certainly the case - and Aang had more of an air of pride about him that probably came with the concept of marriage. Other than that, there were no evident changes to the two.

"I thought neither of you were going to make it here." Zuko said, smirking a little. He knew their weaknesses.

"Well, we had to stop somewhere - oh. I should've figured you already knew that." Sokka started, and promptly stopped.

"You're easy to read, and I didn't think your habits had died off just yet." He lifted a wing in a lazy attempt at a shrug. "So, what did you have planned?"

"I thought we could come back here after we go out to the square or something."

Aang usually had plans, and this was Ba Sing Se, after all. There were tons of options when it came to eating or going out.

The Cat Owl nodded to show his agreement. "Then go out it is."

"Great! Hop on up, buddy," Sokka bent down so Aang could climb aboard his back. It enabled them to move faster, without Aang constantly waddling beside him. Even if the Penguin could Airbend all the way down the street faster than anyone cared for, the crowded streets of the Earth City were not the place to have wind blowing down stands and people.

Zuko took flight as Sokka started moving out of the door, and followed them out into the sunny streets. For a place that had such a high reputation of being so busy, it was quiet for an afternoon in Ba Sing Se.

Some time ago, Aang and Katara had decided their wedding would be held at the Southern Water Tribe. The city of Ba Sing Se was serving as Aang's party place for now, seeing as how Katara didn't want him around at the tribe until she was ready for the wedding, which took place tomorrow. Zuko couldn't quite believe they'd made it this far in the first place - he considered himself lucky to have friends who were letting him into their lives this much that he could be counted on to be a part of their plans.

As they moved, Aang was chattering endlessly about where he wanted to go. The others they passed only nodded in greeting. It was a rather strange group: the Avatar, the Firelord, and a member of the Southern Water Tribe; but around these parts, most people knew of their existence and there were no reactions that were noteworthy. For once they walked down a street without having anyone take much notice of their existence.

"I was thinking maybe it would be better to leave it all to tomorrow - oh look!" Aang stopped suddenly, spotting what Zuko had already seen, "Sure is nice to see kids practicing Earthbending these days."

They were passing the large grounds kept for Earthbenders primarily, and it appeared Toph had allowed her kids to go ahead and practice without her. The Fox Antelope was off with Katara, of course, all the way in the Fire Nation where Katara had determined was a good place to have her own little celebrations. They would be returning to the Southern Water Tribe that night, unlike Aang who was stuck here for the night and early morning hours

Zuko tore his mind from those thoughts as they passed by, watching a Panther kick up a large amount of dust as they succeeded in forming a large dirt wall. It was destroyed and then put back up again: these actions were constantly repeated. Toph was known for her constant reminder of repetition to her students.

"Ah, here we are. My favorite city square." Aang gave a sigh as he looked around at the buildings from his seated position on Sokka's back. "Alright, I say we try… that place!"

He pointed with all four flippers at one building in particular. It was a decent restaurant, that was something Zuko knew from past experiences. They marched up to the doors, and Aang hopped off of Sokka's back. Zuko remained in the air, not feeling like landing until they were at a table.

"Come right over here, we've got a table for three over here," the Cat Gator host said. They followed her to the table she had mentioned.

As soon as all was set, with everyone in a good seated position, and things ordered, they sat in a brief silence. Zuko had settled onto the stool offered to him.

"So, how's the Fire Nation doing?" Aang asked inquisitively.

"Quite well. Very few riots, and the crime rate seems to be going down significantly. I haven't needed to request any help from my soldiers for quite a while,' he replied.

"That's good." Aang grinned. "Well, I can report that the students have been managing themselves decently. Such a messy bunch; Katara says that's why I tolerate them, but I'm not sure how much more toleration I've got left in me."

"Haven't they managed most things?" Sokka looked up at him. "Can't you just say, oh you're done now, have a good rest of your life?"

"You've never worked with Bender students before, Sokka." The other chuckled.

The rest of the evening passed rather calmly. They made small talk, not really mentioning anything about why they were actually here. There was no need to. Somehow, that was rather comforting.

As soon as they wandered out of the restaurant, Aang proclaimed they needed to see the stars a bit before they tried to go back to the reserved building. A roof of some unowned home served as their star gazing spot for the night. Zuko lay down along his stomach, staring up at the sky as the other two arranged themselves accordingly.

"I always wondered what would happen if I actually were to be married." Aang murmured.

"It's certainly a tough road." Zuko, in turn, supplied his thoughts on the topic.

Marriage wasn't something he had ever focused on at all. It seemed Aang was made more for the material of a married life than any of them, since Sokka wasn't making any moves either, despite having Suki at his side constantly. But to Zuko, marriage was yet another thing he didn't want to risk. After learning how his father's marriage had gone, he had determined that the path of marriage was only one he would risk if it came to be that the person he married was worthy of his attention.

Since no one seemed to be so, Zuko had decided he could go without marriage his whole life, and pass the legacy onto some distant relative.

"What about you, Zuko?" apparently, Sokka and Aang had gone on talking while he had faded into his own mind. With a shake, he twisted his head to look at them.

"If you're referring to marriage, I think I'll wait a little longer. Business needs to be first for now."

"Well be a buzzkill, then," Sokka snickered, "I wouldn't wait your whole life for some lucky woman."

Zuko wasn't about to tell them what his real thoughts were. It was better that some things were kept to himself - besides, things were going so well right now for Aang and Katara. Ruining the mood was a horrible idea.


	2. Let's Dance

**A/N: This is, to begin, probably the worst thing I've written in a long while. Along with a busy schedule, and some significant writers block due to this prompt itself, I struggled to write any bit of this. I apologize for it reading so bad. If you're not the judge and don't have to read this, I do not blame you if you skip this story and move onto the next - which should certainly be better. Other than that… well either suffer or move on. I mean, really, I don't care. This was very hard to write, for whatever reason. None of this was edited by anyone else, I did not look over it after I finished it because it was a last minute-due thing.**

 **Prompts: Dancing everywhere, instead of walking**

 **Word Count: 1,228**

For months, he had managed to crawl around the edges of rooms and keep his back up against the wall when it was necessary. It had been easy to keep the attention away from him, which was something Sokka wasn't used to at all. The Water Tribe boy was used to making sure everyone knew he was in the room.

But ever since it had begun to get worse, attention was not to be drawn to him.

Sokka was addicted to dancing.

No longer was walking an ability of his. No, instead, he was forced to bounce around like an idiot all over the place - what made it worse was that it was delightful. This was how life was supposed to be: dancing was beautiful and he couldn't actually stop.

He literally could not stop.

Jetes down the street. Boures across the doorway, down the hall. A few plies in between, with gentle arabesques around the kitchen.

It was the only way to move as far as he was concerned and Sokka refused to admit it to his friends because he knew they would think he'd gone insane.

Aang had given him a few strange looks when he had hopped over a threshold, but Sokka managed to sit down before Aang could see anything else. The boy had given him a simple smile after the strange looks and gone back to talking with Katara.

Oh speaking of which: _Katara._ She was the only person on the entire planet, not even their father knew, that he was addicted to this dancing movement. She did not understand it; but that's what Sokka always counted on. The concept that perhaps this was meant to be something that wasn't understandable for anyone else.

Dancing was exhilarating. He'd been dancing for years anyways, so it didn't make a difference to him that it was happening outside of the studio now. Ballet had been his first real love in the world. Katara was more partial to hip-hop herself, and hadn't continued dancing after the first few years, but she understood her brother was much more suited to the concept anyways.

And now it had become more than a concept: it was his life. Sokka wasn't sure where the line had been drawn, admittedly he had certainly crossed it a long while ago.

The attempts to hide it were not in vain - until the knocks came on his door.

He wasn't expecting anyone, at least, he was quite sure he hadn't been. When Sokka swung the door open to reveal the woman standing behind it, he nearly fainted.

Suki.

She hadn't been around for years, he wasn't sure how he recognized her. There was a sort of air she carried about her that had scared most of the neighborhood children for the time she had been at home. Suki was top of the class when it came to dance, but she also held a reputation for being a bit of a troublemaker.

Boarding school was supposed to have taken care of that. The look she wore now didn't appear to have the evidence that anything had ever happened.

"Sokka? What - hello." She looked surprised to see him here.

"Uh, hello?" He didn't move a muscle. If he even so much as tried to walk over to her, she would find out.

"I - someone told me this was where - nevermind. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bug you. I'll go now."

"It's okay," Sokka looked around his house. Maybe he could invite her in… if he moved slowly enough… "Come in, if you'd like."

"I… Alright." She entered, and he shut the door, sliding effectively along the wall. It wasn't possible for him to avoid the electric slide he added in. Damn it.

Suki sat down as soon as he motioned for her to, and he began shuffling - arms going through various choreographed motions - to get to a chair. If Suki noticed anything, well, she didn't say it. Her eyes were skirting around the contents of the room as if it were all foreign to her.

"So… how have things been?" It was odd: he couldn't remember having ever really talked to him before.

She gave a bit of a discomforted sigh, "Things are… well, things, Sokka. I don't know if you've ever seen life in a boarding school, but it was sure a lot of… a lot of stuff. I graduated recently - I guess you did too, huh? Weird being considered an adult."

"Yeah… sorta." He shrugged a little, trying to sit completely still.

"Do you have anything to drink?" She asked urgently, as if it were an issue, and he nodded.

"Yeah."  
This meant he was going to have to move. This was a horrible idea. Sokka had never had such a horrible idea before in his entire life.

She was not looking - thank all - when he slide out of his chair and began prancing to the kitchen, arms staying still at his sides. It was easy to move in the kitchen where he couldn't be seen at all, and he was able to get the water and move on out. Now it took courage.

With a steady hand, he attempted to not tondu his way across the floor, and avoided letting his arms go up into the air. God this was impossible. Suki was still facing the other way. He continued looking down at the floor to avoid any eye contact he may make with the woman.

"Sokka…?"

Oh...damn…

"Sokka, what are you doing? You're not in dance class." She giggled, then grew silent as he slowly looked up at her.

"Suki, I - I have to admit something, and you're one of few that … that knows." Sokka stopped every bit of movement. "I'm… I'm addicted to dancing. I don't walk anymore, Suki, I don't think I can even run."

"Addicted to dancing?" Suki's eyes had widened significantly.

"Yeah."

"That's awesome! And really really dumb too, Sokka. But - well, I love it! You could make a fortune being the man addicted to dancing!"

Sokka didn't actually believe what he was hearing. He wasn't sure why she was here in the first place, and now she was sitting here telling him his addiction was fantastic.

"You need like… a World Record for longest time ever danced, I bet you could do it, because you literally can't move otherwise!"

She was laughing.

And then… Sokka found himself laughing along with her. Suddenly, even though he certainly wasn't going to become famous from this, this whole dumb thing was a prospect of the future that was going to be okay. Sokka had laughed at himself before - but not with anyone else. And he loved it.

"Come on, we have to tell everyone about this."

"Katara is the only one who knows… I don't think …" he tried to catch his breath as he stood there, still gasping from the laughter.

"They'll be humored. These are your friends, Sokka. I hardly know all of you, but I think maybe this will … this will be a good advertisement method."

The glint in Suki's eyes was something that Sokka was suddenly weirdly interested in. He didn't know what this meant, but he liked it. Maybe she could make his future brighter and get him to the level of dance he wanted to be in.

"Sure." He nodded.


	3. Her Name Was

**A/N: Once more I return with another story that has several different parts. This is for the finals of season 5 for the Pro-bender Circuit. This time, we have a parent fic where the situation is presented, and three alternate ending fics with different endings to the story.**

 **We chose to do this concept: Aang never met with the Lion Turtle, and now he must face off with Ozai.**

 **My alternate ending is that Aang took Katara with him along to the meeting with Ozai.**

 **Prompt(s) used: (title) Her Name Was**

 **Word count: 2,093**

 **The "parent fic": The Gray Beach /s/12797606/**

 **Other two alternate ending stories: Death is Certain, the Hour Unknown** **/s/12797618/** **; ours is a righteous fury (which echoes hollow through the years)** **/s/12798462**

It had come down to the basic sound of thunder within one's ears, a clap that echoed for miles and miles. A choice that was going to play this out one way or another, a feeling that made Aang dread every single minute that was going to come after this. Things were going to change when he fought Ozai no matter the outcome. Having a friend tag along had been one outcome he had not considered.

Katara only gazed at him sweetly as he gripped her hand, pulling her along as they flew up to the top of the rock where Ozai stood. Every inch of Aang's mind told him this was going to lead to an invisible, inevitable, trail of regret. How _could_ he have brought her along? The words of Sokka, Zuko, even Toph, echoed in his mind as he pushed them up the side of the rock.

' _Take care of my sister, Aang. Although, she'll probably do the same right back at you.'_ Sokka had been _smiling_ while he'd said that.

' _Twinkletoes, I will actually have to fight her if anything happens to you. Oh, and vice versa, I guess. I could turn it into a full on brawl where…'_ Toph had then gone on for a full five minutes before Zuko shouted at her to shut up.

' _Do what you have to.'_ The scar-faced boy had simply said.

There was little doubt in Aang's mind that all of those were genuine, but they still flung little yellow warning signs all around his brain. He inhaled deeply to clear his mind, and prepared to land.

Ozai stood on top of the rock with a look on his face that showed no signs of stopping. Not an inch of sympathy was evident anywhere in that cold hearted look.

Katara and he stood beside one another, facing the tall dark man with a sudden heightened sense of security. They were two powerful people, while this was only one powerful man. A man with credible damage to his name, Aang had to admit, but a man who was only ever going to be one person.

"You came to see my splendor when I am able to defeat you once and for all, Avatar! I have been waiting for you, of course." The coldness in his voice echoed the look on his face. "The Phoenix King will be triumphant in this battle."

"Such confidence." Katara challenged back, yet Aang wished she hadn't. Not yet, not yet, not yet.

"You brought along a little friend to watch your demise, Avatar? What sort of cruel joke is this? She is a Waterbender. We are in the desert."

Katara pointed furiously at the canteens that hung from her belt. She was already getting impatient with the man, and while Aang didn't find her anger a problem, he wasn't sure he wanted her fighting first.

"Let me have this one." He said quietly to her, then looked back at Ozai. "I won't let you do this."

Ozai laughed, "Oh, that's what they all say! It is merely words, boy, and I can promise that when I am through with you, I will be more powerful than ever before."

Inhaling deeply, he lunged at the man, fire shooting from his palm and earth beneath him shooting up to provide him a podium to stand on with a stamp of a foot. Katara waited in silence as the Fire Lord took his first shot at the Avatar. A brilliant flame leapt from the man's outstretched palm, ducked by Aang just in time.

"Fight harder, Avatar!"

* * *

Flashes of fire and chunks of earth and heavy wind brushed past in the skirmish that was fought atop the rock in the Fire Nation's main territory.

And all through it, Katara stood there, just as Aang had instructed her to do in the first place back at the camp. It seemed as though Aang had the upper hand, his Avatar state had yet to kick in yet: which was a sign of strength for him in her eyes. She took it in as she could, watching and waiting for the time to intervene and douse the fire that emitted from the "Phoenix King".

Suddenly one large flash of flame that was larger than the rest swelled up and - it was _not_ Aang's.

Katara's immediate reaction was to let out a small scream, hearing Aang's cry of pain as he fell to the ground, dazed. She knelt beside him in a flash, seeing how tired he truly looked. His leg looked like it had been burnt badly but he was shaking his head at her.

"I'm not going to just sit here, Aang, and let him have this. You won't fight anymore either. Stay where you are." She gripped his shoulder in the shock of the true sight of his leg. It was totally burned.

Aang continued to shake his head, "Katara, you can't fight him."

"I will do what I want if you're injured. Don't. Even. Try."

He continued looking up at her with desperation, but she merely shook her head back at him and turned to try and peer through the dust. As it cleared, the obvious attacker was revealed.

Ozai stood breathing heavily, grinning with his maniac grin at the sight of the Avatar rendered useless. With a small grunt, Katara stood up to face him with anger she had only once felt before with the image of Aang's pained face in her head. This time she would show no mercy.

The look on the Firelord's face was one of pure disinterest in the situation that had now arisen. He clearly did not believe she could show any sort of hatred or anger - and that was what put Katara off the most.

For more times in her life than she could begin to count now, she had been stuck in a perpetual situation of running away from the dangers that emitted from the Fire Nation. At the front of all of her problems, barreling towards her and her friends, was this man's army that he had controlled for far too long now. Every escape had been because of him. Every time they had been threatened, it was his fault for threatening them. Even Zuko had run out eventually by the way his father treated him.

And now Aang, Aang of all people, was lying injured on the ground because Ozai was too powerful for anyone. Anyone except her anger.

With a brush of her hair over her shoulder, she let out a roar and raised her arm, forcing a wave of water from her canteens.

The flame it clashed with was doused in an instantaneous burst of light. Every time they would send something at each other all it would do was flash and die. Flash and die, flash and die, flash and die, over and over again.

No words had to be spoken between them. Katara could only see blinding white anger behind her vision, motioning as she needed to with all the effort she had left inside of her. Fueled by the rage she felt only made the effort all the greater.

"You won't get away with this!" Ozai screamed over the sound of an explosion as they clashed once more. Katara only smirked as she continued to soak the water back up and use it once more.

A change came over her in the next few moments as the repetition began to grow dull, becoming only a background noise that was sustained only by the fury that both felt. There was another way to do this and she knew it very well. She had the methods, she knew the temptation that lay with them. Ozai was one who it was justifiable to perform upon.

She didn't _really_ hear Aang calling out weakly to her over the explosions, she only heard the faint noise of it. The Waterbender heard only what she wanted to. Hearing the sound of someone persuading her to stop was not something she wanted to hear right now. This man was going to suffer.

The explosions stopped as Katara felt for other water sources, finding her target easily. Ozai quickly lost control of his limbs as he flopped about on top of the rock. He stared with abject horror as his body was twisted around without his consent, a face which most victims of bloodbending always wore.

"You are such -" she grunted, "a horrible man, and you deserve this. You deserve what I'm giving to you. Do you know why?"

"Katara, stop!" Aang was calling. She still could not hear him clearly, for she did not want to hear him clearly.

"Because you've hurt me and my friends more than I can even begin to describe. You would betray anyone if it meant getting your way, and that is despicable. That is how you will be remembered. Not as a great king, or lord, or whatever you call yourself, but someone who betrayed only to get his way. I hope you enjoy that."

And she flung him off the top of the rock formation with a wave of her hands.

* * *

Aang had watched the whole scene in the same abject terror inside him that had been written over Ozai's face the entire time. He had watched as Katara fell to her knees at the end of it, her face wiped of the anger that had been there.

He had watched as the rest of their friends slid slowly away from Katra when the news was delivered as soon as they landed back on safe grounds. Aang watched the way Zuko was cautious to talk to her about anything for days, years, later. He had watched the way Toph became caught up with her students, and the way she never really connected with Katara or himself for years and years later. The hardest to watch was Sokka.

Sokka tried to prevent slipping away. He was her brother, after all. There was the obvious duty he felt to keep her close. He stayed close, through the rest of their early adulthood. Even when their first child was born, he was there, denying all the illusions brought up by complete strangers that they had all lost their marbles and what was coming to them was deserved.

At the end of the day, all Sokka could do was leave one last message to Aang.

"Watch her."

That was the last Aang had heard or seen of the man that he had called his friend once.

He stayed next to Katara, he definitely watched over her. She got recognition for being the one to end Ozai, but it caused it's fair share of problems with the people of the Fire Nation for some time. Her own father had stopped wanting to see her as often.

All Aang could do was stand beside her day to day. Make sure she didn't lose control, although she never did, ever again. She never spoke of the fact that bloodbending had ever even been used to kill by her, but she did speak about it's dangers to others. She spoke out against those who used it for crime. She spoke out against the ability to use it. She became an advocate for anyone affected by bloodbending, and they were the only ones aside from Aang who ever truly listened to her.

Katara's main fear was that no one would remember her in a good light. There was no way of telling if this was ever to be the case, it was a silent fear that stuck with both of them for the rest of their days.

* * *

And years and years and years later, when they had both passed, he watched as his predecessor spoke with a new friend. Someone he didn't know, someone new. Katara was standing beside him as they stared down to the world below, watching the interaction carefully.

She was talking to the boy about casual things, walking along the city streets and the tension was low until he brought up questions about her past life. Aang grinned to himself, although he feared what may come up.

The boy had suddenly asked her if she had been the one to end Ozai, or were the legends of the female warrior true?

And Korra gazed up at the sky almost knowingly, and nodded.

"Her name was Katara."

Beside him in the spirit world, Katara placed a hand on his shoulder and looked back at him with a teary gaze.

She was remembered well.


End file.
